Means for forming a soap-receiving cavity in a sponge



Aug. 25, 1964 McDAN L 3,145,601

MEANS FOR FORMING A SOAP-RECEIVING CAVITY IN A SPONGE Filed April 16, 1962 INVENTOR. Mew/4a fi. MQOH/wu United States Patent 3,145,601 MEANS FOR FORMING A SCAP-RECEIVING CAVITY IN A SP-QNGE Michael R. McDanal, 4840 E. Kentucky Circle, Denver 22, Colo. Filed Apr. 16, 1962, Ser. No. 187,771 1 Claim. (Cl. 83-1) This invention relates to a cellular rubber or plastic foam sponge of the type having an internal cavity containing a quantity or a cake of soap, which when the sponge is in use will automatically produce a cleansing lather to facilitate the washing and cleaning action of the sponge. The invention, more particularly, contemplates a method and means for forming the cavity in the sponge for receiving the soap.

Sponges are so freely compressible and highly flexible that it is exceedingly difficult to accurately cut an internal cavity therein for receiving the soap or other detergent material.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a method, and means for carrying out the method, whereby conventional sponges of the plastic foam type can be rapidly, accurately and uniformly cavitated or slit to provide an internal soap cavity therein.

Another object is to provide a highly efficient and easily used holder for safely and securely holding a sponge during the slitting operation which will eliminate any possibility of damage to either the operator or the sponge and which will resist internal shifting of the sponge material during the slitting operation.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detailed construction of the invention which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efliciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof, like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

FIG. l is a top plan view of the improved sponge, slitting device with the holder in place therein;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the upper portion of the slitting device of FIG. 1, taken on the line 2-2, FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a similar cross-sectional view showing an alternate arrangement to be later described;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the improved sponge holder, illustrating it in the open position ready to receive a sponge;

FIG. 5 is a similar perspective view illustrating a sponge in place in the open holder;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are longitudinal sections through cavitated sponges showing types of cavities which can be formed therein with this invention; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a completed sponge of the type to which this invention applies with a soap cake in place therein.

The invention employs an elongated, double-edged, pointed, relatively thin knife blade 10 provided with suitable mechanical driving means for longitudinally and rapidly reciprocating the blade on a relatively short stroke such as employed on conventional jigsaws or saber saws. The means for longitudinally reciprocating the blade forms no part of this invention which relates more particularly to means for holding a preformed synthetic sponge in proper relation to the blade for the purpose of forming a soap cavity therein.

For the purpose of illustration, the blade 10 is shown mounted in and extending vertically from a vertical plunger 11 extending through a vertical guide bearing 12 of any suitable vibratory reciprocating mechanism. The

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mechanism is mounted below a table plate 13 in a mechanism housing 14 by means of suitable bracket members 15. The blade 10 may be secured in the plunger 11 in any of the conventional manners as used on jig or saber saws, such as by means of set screws 16, and projects upwardly through a blade opening 17 in the table plate 13. The length of the blade is such that when in its extreme upward position, it will project above the table plate a distance less than the length of the sponge to be worked upon.

For the uses of this invention, the sponge, indicated at 18, is first placed in a sponge holder comprising an openbottomed box formed in two halves hinged together at their tops so that they may be closed against a sponge. The holder is designated in its entirety by the reference numeral 19 and shown in detail in FIGS. 4 and 5. It comprises a base plate 20 and a lid plate 21 having end flanges 22 which are hinged together at the top of the holder by means of suitable hinges 23. An edge flange 24 is turned upwardly along one side of the base plate 20 and a second edge flange 25 is turned downwardly along the opposite side of the lid plate 21.

The dimensions of the plates 20 and 21 and the flanges 24 and 25 are such that when the holder is closed, it will snugly contain and confine the sponge 18 to be cavitated. To assist in preventing distortion of the sponge during cavitation, the two plates 20 and 21 are each provided with a plurality of rows of inwardly directed, spaced-apart, pointed studs 26 which enter the sponge when the box is closed. The downwardly-turned lid flange 25 is preferably cut back, as shown at 27, to facilitate entry of a sponge with a minimum lift of the lid plate.

A vertical-walled, substantially rectangular, guide sleeve 28 of less height than the length of the holder 19 is mounted on the table plate 13 in any desired manner, such as by means of suitable cap screws 29, about the knife blade 10, the latter being medially located in the sleeve. The sleeve has an internal width sufficient to slidably receive the holder 19 and an internal length of approximately one and one-half the width of the holder.

In use, the sponge 18 is placed in the holder 19, as shown in FIG. 5 and the lid plate 21 is closed thereon. The open bottom of the holder is then placed between the side walls of the guide sleeve 28 and forced downwardly over the vertically reciprocating knife blade 10 until it rests upon the table plate 13.

The holder 19 can now be slid to the right and to the left, the full length of the sleeve 28 to cause the vertically reciprocating blade 10 to slice a vertical-sided, flat soap receiving cavity in the sponge, such as shown at A in FIG. 6, after which the holder is lifted from the sleeve and the sponge is discharged and replaced.

If a cavity of the restricted-mouth-type, such as shown at B in FIG. 7, is desired, the holder is not slid right and left but is placed in the position of FIG. 2 and then is tilted to the right and left in the plane of the knife blade to cut out the cavity B.

If the device is to be used exclusively for the B type cavity, it is preferred to replace the vertical-walled sleeve 28 with a specifically designed sleeve 30, as shown in FIG. 3, having inclined end walls 31 which form a receiving socket having parallel side walls and inclined end walls with a length at the bottom substantially equal to the width of the holder 19 and a length at the top substantially equal to twice the width of the holder 10 so that the holder can be tilted back and forth, as shown in FIG. 3, to accurately and uniformly produce cavities of the B type.

The product is completed by slipping a cake of soap into the internal cavity and then cementing the mouth of the opening closed with waterproof cement to produce the soap containing sponge of FIG. 8.

It will be found the bulk of the soap cake expands the flat faces and sides of the sponge to give the ends thereof a contracted, concave appearance, as illustrated, which assists in retaining a soap cake in place.

While the device has been described as working upon a single individual sponge, the same mechanical principle can be multiplied for simultaneously operating on a plurality of sponges by increasing the size or number of holders and sleeves and by increasing the number of vertically reciprocating knives.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claim, Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

Means for medially cavitating a sponge comprising:

(a) a table plate;

(11) a knife blade of greater width than thickness extending through and projecting vertically upward from said table plate;

(0) means for vertically reciprocating said knife blade;

(d) a rectangular, open-topped guide sleeve fixedly mounted upon said table plate, said guide sleeve having relatively wide, parallel side walls equally spaced from and parallel to the sides of said knife blade and relatively narrow end walls equally spaced from the edges of said knife blade; and

(e) an open-bottomed sponge containing box positioned on said table plate about said knife blade and between said side walls and in spaced relation to said end walls so that it may be manually moved on said table top guided by said side walls and between the confines of said end walls to form a medial cavity of greater width than said blade in the lower extremity of said sponge, said end walls being inclined away from each other as the top of said sleeve is approached to allow the upper portion of said box to be moved a greater distance than the lower portion thereof to produce a cavity of minimum width adjacent said table plate and a maximum width adjacent the upper extremity of said knife blade.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,545,332 Kase July 7, 1925 1,814,197 Vernet July 14, 1931 1,868,932 Vernet July 26, 1932 2,167,215 Leary July 25, 1939' 

